On SAGE Insight: Servant Leader: Developing Leaders to Meet the Needs of a Diverse Workforce

The value of diversity to multinational organizations in the United States and elsewhere is without question, but the ability of organizations to realize diversity remains problematic. Achieving diversity continues to stall as minorities and women, respectively, encounter ceilings made of concrete and glass. Only 3% of senior leadership teams reflect the racial diversity of the U.S. labor force, and women are just 16% of executive teams). There is much work to be done by human resource development (HRD) professionals address these workplace inequities and respond to the call to develop modern leaders who are able to achieve equity and inclusion.

This article describes diversity intelligence and its likely attributes, which contribute to love servant leadership model as well as the potential benefits to the workforce, organizations, and society from having more diversity intelligent servant leaders. The author begins by reviewing diversity intelligence, present the compassionate love servant leadership model, and advance a set of propositions between diversity intelligence and compassionate love servant leadership. This article benefits organizations, leaders, employees, and HRD professionals as well as leadership and diversity and inclusion scholars and practitioners.

Abstract

The Problem

The ability of organizations to realize diversity remains problematic. To meet the needs of the modern workforce, new diversity and leadership approaches are required.

The Solution

Diversity intelligence, a promising new human resource development (HRD) tool, leads to enhanced inclusion and equitable treatment in the workplace. Several propositions herein advance that diversity intelligence is an antecedent to the compassionate love servant leadership model. The author describes the potential value diversity intelligent servant leaders provide to society, organizations, leaders, and especially employees with protected class status. This article addresses the implications of the propositions to theory and explores the intersection of servant leadership and diversity and inclusion research streams, practice describes how organizations and HRD professionals can benefit from and implement these arguments, and social impact discusses the benefits society can accrue when all organizational members are engaged, productive and valued.

The Stakeholders

This article benefits organizations, leaders, employees, and HRD professionals as well as leadership and diversity and inclusion scholars and practitioners.